Fall Books!

Even though the days are still hot and it technically isn't fall yet, the students are back so we know summer is on its last legs. Fall book previews are out and I am excited to see that some of my favorite authors have new titles coming out in the next few months.

One of my favorite nonfiction authors, Malcolm Gladwell has a new book out this fall called David and Goliath. His previous books include Outliers (my favorite), Blink and The Tipping Point. Gladwell is a journalist who has turned some pop and academic research on the social sciences on its head. The chapters usually are distinct journalistic pieces unto themselves and make for some unexpectedly fascinating reading.

Dave Eggers has a new thriller coming out in early October called The Circle. I didn't love his most recent novel, A Hologram for a King. I liked the story and found the Saudi Arabian setting interesting but I found the main character too unsympathetic. I did love the characterization, setting and unique narrative voice of 2007's What is the What so much that I might possibly have to read everything he ever writes.

In a similar (but much slower vein) than Eggers, I loved Donna Tartt's first book The Secret History - a disturbing and captivating mystery set amid an elite group of Greek scholars at a private East coast university. I wasn't as enamoured with her follow up attempt, but 10 years later I'm still interested! Don't be afraid of the 700+ pages. The Goldfinch drops in late October.

Still not sounding interesting? New books are on their way from Stephen King, Helen Fielding, Elizabeth Gilbert, Tom Perrotta, Jhumpa Lahiri, and J. M. Coetzee just to name a few.